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I’ve been thinking about the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster. I was originally going to pick it up on my newly acquired PS Vita, however it would seem that there’s a little snag regarding the physical version you can buy. It includes Final Fantasy X-2 as a download code. Which is sort of okay as I don’t really care too much for Final Fantasy X-2, but if I’m paying for both titles I’d like to be able to play both. Of course I could just download it. But I don’t necessarily have the free storage to download it at the moment.

Whereby it would make even less sense to pay more to expand my storage capabilities.

That said, the very same Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster is now available on Steam and that could be a better option. The entire Final Fantasy XIII trilogy is available on Steam, too. While there is a good chance that the recently announced Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age will make its way there at some point. Or (at a stretch) make its way to PS Vita.

So I could have Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy IX on my PS Vita and everything above that in my Steam library. I’m unsure as to whether Final Fantasy XV will ever come to Steam, but I’d reckon it’s likely even if we have to wait an additional couple of years to see it. Still, I’m a massive fan of the Final Fantasy series. It’s one of the reasons I became as enamoured with RPGs as I did. It’s one of the few things you’ll ever see me playing filled with childlike wonder and glee, too. The other being Chrono Trigger. Even if I’ve probably finished Chrono Trigger over thirty times (that’s not an exaggeration either). While I haven’t read/seen too much about Final Fantasy XV, I’d still love to play it just because it’s a Final Fantasy title.

A fitting name for such a beast.

While Final Fantasy XII (and above) weren’t my favourite Final Fantasy titles, I do admit they deserve a second chance. Final Fantasy XIII was an entry in the series which I didn’t really enjoy the first time out, but I definitely enjoyed it more the second time I went through the story. Mostly due to the fact that earlier in the story they restrict who you can have, what you can do with them, and how useful they are. Once you reach Gran Pulse (I think it is) you’ve finally got the freedom to build the party that you want.

Greater selection of Paradigms to choose from, too.

Which would probably be my major complaint (for lack of a better word) with later instalments. They had interesting stories, characters, combat mechanics, and so on but there was always an annoying feature. Like the constant party shuffling early in Final Fantasy XIII. Or the fact that some parts of Final Fantasy XII played out like an MMO with intense grinding.

That said, Final Fantasy XII was an entry in the series that deserved the definition of epic. It was a stunningly beautiful title with an excellent selection of music, it also had a huge and vibrant world and took many risks with and different directions in many key Final Fantasy mechanics. It’s an interesting conundrum I’m faced with for sure. It’s such an influential series (for me personally), and I’m unsure as to which would be the best way to continue to support it. Steam seems like the obvious choice for the later instalments. Especially if those later instalments are released with very little changes to the original versions of said instalments.

Derelict, rusty, lacking in every way, and liable to fall apart before we reach the next space station. By the power of duct tape and holding our breath in zero gravity we shall prevail! Either that or we’ll suffocate. Imagine going into warp and seeing your rear engine float away tethered loosely by a strip of duct tape, realising you’re now tilting heavily on one side, and that if anything should hit the other engine you’re stranded in this harsh abyss. I wonder if we have some kind of suit to fix exterior errors. Or if we even know how.

Sweet baby lambs- the Rasputin is a floating death trap! I’m not a qualified anything!

Even my pilot license expired four years ago. That said, no-one has asked to see my license yet. Then again- no-one has asked to see anything- they’re usually too busy trying to pepper me with missiles or tear a hole in my hull with their lasers. It’s a good thing I installed those deflector shields. Else, I would be the space debris that I frequently crash into.

Rebel Galaxy is a relaxing space adventure that has provided quite a different experience than I was initially expecting. It’s quite tough, too. The above account is a literal description of the ship when we first get it- no deflector shields, no tractor beam, no secondary weapons, and an engine that barely runs. Not to mention the random events range from slightly annoying to absolutely brutal. Within seconds you’re descended upon by a dozen ships, each with better ordinance, and each with the capability to weave in and out of turret fire. However, this is one of the reasons that Rebel Galaxy is growing on me. There’s a lot at work which isn’t readily apparent when you’re getting this ol’ rustbucket from mission to mission.

We drove a long way for ice cubes.

There are also a lot of different ways to play it out. You can be friendly, you can resort to piracy, you can smuggle resources between stations, you can join guilds, or you can simply float around the universe doing who knows what. It’s definitely got a very laid back feel to the progression. Sure, there’s a story- but who has time for a story? There’s a distress beacon over here, a delivery over there, a small trade convoy carrying valuable cargo to the south, and a few stations between here and there. It’s quite the change of pace for me.

Which is the entire reason I decided to pick it up in the first place.

I wanted to do something a little different. RPGs and ARPGs have always been the two staples of my library, with many of my favourite titles, such as Chrono Trigger or the Final Fantasy series, falling into one of those categories. But I’m looking to add more staples to my library.

Staples, unlike glue, also tend to keep things held together. Glue usually degrades over time and things fall out all over the place. I can’t say that I’ll always enjoy the different titles I try, nor can I guarantee I’ll play them multiple times in different ways- but I value the experiences. Playing different things. Having to learn whole new sets of mechanics because you’ve never played something like this before. It also helps when I’m not in the mood to play a particular genre as now I have so many genres to choose from. In any case, we’ve had a lot of creative posts recently and I figured I’d do something a little different for those getting burned out looking at my scribbles.

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Did you know that I rarely write Steam Guides? You did? Well, you’ve probably read this one then…

One of the things I’d love to add to Moggie’s Proclamations are the little side projects I do from time to time in other places. These are usually pretty short self contained bursts of content relating to certain things that are quite hard to form a whole usual length post for. Mostly because, as stated previously, they’re fairly short and they tend to not require an introduction. So I figured I’d try a smaller and more concise post that simply tells you it exists.

The particular content we’re talking about today is a (99% spoiler free) Steam Guide for Fallout 4 covering the basics of the latest modern Fallout title. I’m rather hoping it’ll be useful to those coming from Fallout 3 and/or Fallout: New Vegas who might be confused about the small but significant changes to mechanics or even new players to the modern Fallout series.

In either case, I’ve tried to keep it as spoiler free as is possible when discussing game mechanics.

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As the Steam summer sale rolls on and more tantalising deals are presented each day, it is at this time we can observe the wild Moggie in his natural habitat. At around 6pm GMT you will see him emerge from his leisure to peruse new deals, think about purchases, and ponder new additions to his library. Unfortunately, much to the sadness of the wild Moggie, there aren’t many new titles to purchase as he already owns pretty much everything he wants. Such is life. Such are the times of few releases relevant to his interests.

That said, I’m not without hope that I’ll manage to spend some money before this Steam sale expires like a red shirt on their first mission.

I’ve been pondering on the purchase of the Doom collection that Steam has generously cut a good 40% off of (which puts it at the price of the non-discount price of the first entry to the series). I’ll be totally honest and say that, as expected, as I have no FPS origins when it comes to gaming, I’ve never played Doom. I’d never played Wolfenstein until the very enjoyable Wolfenstein: The New Order was released, either. That said, I am getting a bit more attuned to the whole first person shooter-y thing. Especially when there are shotguns.

Let me tell you something about Fallout 3. I love combat shotguns. I suppose in their traditional sense they would be pump action shotguns(?) but they are pretty awesome. However, as I have noticed, shotguns can be a bit hit or miss (pardon the pun) in many games. But Doom seems to sport a rather sexy looking shotgun experience. Yes, shotguns can be sexy.

All of the above taken into account I’m only versed in the general classification of guns, though.

I know (generally) what an assault rifle is, a carbine is, a shotgun is, and so on. But if you get into the realms of say S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl where they’re based on realistic(?) guns then you’ve lost me. It has a clip or a magazine, it has bullets or shells, it has a barrel, and it tends to go bang when you fire it. Moggie gun knowledge exhausted.

From the point of pure fun, though? Doom looks like it has that in spades. That’s the first thing in my mind when I think of Shadow Warrior (2013)- it’s just a lot of fun. It’s fast paced, brutal, enjoyable, and it hooks you from start to finish. I think that’s one of the things about Fallout 3 that drew me back to it so many times. It’s fun to explore, to try new character types, to explore, to be a different person, and more. Kind of makes me a little sad that I can’t find many games that I really enjoy playing. Oddly enough there are some oldies in that list, too. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic? Frustrating at times but it was a wildly enjoyable ride. Sacred? I can’t count the profanities hurled at the screen but a solid experience.

If you’re wondering about the title… I have a juvenile interest in turning enemies into giblets.

It makes me happy. Not always. But it doesn’t hurt. Well, it doesn’t hurt me- I’m sure the enemies feel differently about it. I sometimes wonder if future employers ever stumble across this blog and that’s why I don’t ever get a call back. I think about a lot of things. It’s why my head hurts. Or so says my doctor who advises I do it as infrequently as possible.

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My heart breaks a little whenever there is a Steam seasonal sale on. It breaks even more when I’m struggling to take advantage of the deals.

Now, don’t get me wrong- I love to save money. I also don’t enjoy spending money when I don’t necessarily need to. I’m just finding it harder and harder these days to take advantage of any seasonal sales that are popping up as I simply don’t want anything.

I spent some time the other week reorganising my Origin library as that is where the Mass Effect trilogy lives. It’s also where Dragon Age II lives. It’s now where Dragon Age: Origins lives as there was no point in having that on Steam as there wasn’t any achievement integration, progress tracking, or really any reason for it to be on Steam in the first place. As I went through my library I noticed a few other titles that I didn’t need installed as they were older games where the expansion pack was just a whole new game. Including the original game. So the base title and the expansion are not actually required together- only the expansion- as that is where the playable content is.

But then as the Steam sale came up I was thinking about all the titles I wanted to buy. Of which there were surprisingly fewer than I even anticipated. Shadowrun Returns was a definite purchase as it was ridiculously cheap and I wanted to break into that series, while, rather spontaneously, Castle Crashers ended up in my library too. I have been keeping an eye on a few other titles as an attempt to break into a few new genres but that was without much success, sadly.

It seems that I’m just buying the odd game here and there rather than anticipating a full list of them.

I’ve tried some outsiders like Bulletstorm (which was pretty good albeit short) and Hammerwatch (a nice retro throwback). I’ve bought some I expected less but got a lot more from like Legend of Grimrock (a solid dungeon crawl) and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (an engaging and enjoyable title). I’ve also got a handful of titles I’ve yet to play like Krater, Metro 2033, and the Overlord series. But as the number of unfinished games gets lower by the month there is little to take its place.

I don’t know. I guess it’s just a little sad as usually a Steam sale is a time of excitement and joy… but not now? Not that there isn’t a lot of new games coming out all the time but more that they’re not really sparking something with me. I reminisce fondly of the days when I first played Fallout 3- and many others for that matter- but I can’t ever recreate those experiences.

So I’m trying to find new games to create new experiences with. I hope that the Icewind Dale series, the Baldur’s Gate series, Planescape: Torment, and Dragon Age II will all bring some great and fond memories together. I also have no doubt I will remember a lot of things about Shadowrun Returns for a long time. I guess that’s why I started gaming in the first place. The stories, the memories, the enjoyment, the successes, and the failures. To have those experiences in a thousand different worlds with several thousand different characters.

I hope everyone else is making many a purchase on Steam for hours of enjoyment.

If you want me I’ll be in the old people section reminiscing about the days of yesteryear, the hours spent, the hours enjoyed, and all the things that I’ll do next.